In a healthy gut, there is a balance between beneficial and pathogenic bacteria. Various factors including food, stress, illness or infection and medications can disrupt this balance leading to an excess of pathogenic bacteria. This imbalance may lead to bloating, gas and constipation. Over recent years, there has been a significant increase in the use of probiotic micro-organisms (hereinafter “probiotics”) to address this imbalance. It is believed that probiotics can inhibit or influence the growth and/or metabolism of pathogenic bacteria in the intestinal tract. Probiotics may also activate immune function. For this reason, there is considerable interest in incorporating probiotics into nutritional supplements or foodstuffs.
There are difficulties associated with incorporating probiotics into nutritional supplements or foodstuffs. One primary difficulty is having or maintaining an adequate number of viable micro-organisms in the relevant product. If the concentration of the viable probiotics in the food product does not exceed a certain threshold value, the beneficial effect of the probiotics is not provided. Temperature and exposure to oxygen, water and acids can affect probiotic viability. Furthermore, the shear forces generated in certain production processes such as high-speed blending, emulsification and homogenization may result in cell disruption and losses in viability. This sensitivity can make it difficult to incorporate probiotics into products and to combine probiotics with other actives to produce products with added beneficial activity.
Products including the probiotics must be palatable to the consumer. Probiotics can have flavours that may be perceived by the human or animal ingesting the product as being unpleasant. Actives that may be used in conjunction with probiotics may also have flavours capable of being perceived as objectionable.
There has been some interest in providing probiotics in microparticles. Microencapsulation is a process in which thin films or coatings or solid/gel matrix surround, enclose and/or immobilise tiny particles or droplets of the one of more actives, such as a probiotic. The resultant microparticles are typically spherical in shape and contain active material surrounded by a continuous wall or trapped in the solid or gel matrix. Microencapsulation provides the one or more actives in a finely divided state.
The encapsulated probiotic may be protected from degradation by limiting its exposure to the external environment (e.g. heat, moisture, acid, air, light) and may be released at a controlled rate under specific conditions as desired. However, often the encapsulation material is porous. Thus, the encapsulated probiotic may nevertheless be exposed to a degrading exterior environment. Also, the probiotic may leak out of the porous microparticle and any flavour associated with the probiotic may emanate from the microparticle and be perceived by the person or animal ingesting it.
It can be desirable to combine a probiotic with one or more other actives to produce a microparticle with added beneficial activity. These other actives may be susceptible to degradation and it is desirable to provide a microparticle with suitable barrier properties for limiting exposure of the active to degrading elements from the external environment. Furthermore, certain actives may be rendered stable through encapsulation by providing a microparticle with suitable barrier properties. Also, similarly to the probiotic, other actives may have flavours that can be perceived by the consumer as being objectionable. Thus, it is also desirable to provide a microparticle with suitable barrier properties for masking any flavour of the active. As noted above, encapsulation materials are often porous and the encapsulated active may be exposed to a degrading exterior environment or leak out of the porous microparticle. This leakage can lead to the flavour associated with the active being perceived by the person or animal ingesting it.
When preparing a microparticle precursor composition, it can be difficult to combine the probiotic with other actives due to the sensitivity of the probiotic. Blending any other actives with the remaining components of the microparticle precursor composition, including the probiotic, can involve shear rates that disrupt the cells of the probiotic and compromise its viability.
An opportunity therefore remains to address or ameliorate one or more shortcomings or disadvantages associated with existing methods of incorporating probiotics into microparticles and combining probiotics with other actives and/or to at least provide a useful alternative thereto.